Press for making blocks from loose fiber material



C. B. WILLOCK Nov. 5, 1968 PRESS FOR MAKING BLOCKS FROM LOOSE FIBER MATERIAL Filed Sept. 26, 1966 3 Sheets-Sheet 1 CHARLES E. W/LLOCK INVENTOR BUG/(HORN, BLORE, KLAROU/ST 8 SPAR/(MAN ATTORNEYS C. B. WILLOCK Nov. 5, 1968 PRESS FOR MAKING BLOCKS FROM LOOSE FIBER MATERIAL 3 Sheets-Sheet 2 Filed Sept. 26, 1966 Fl G. 4

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CHARLES B. W/LLOCK INVENTOR BUCKHO/Ml, BL ORE, K LAROU/S 7' 8 SPAR/(MAN ATTORNEYS C. B. WILLOCK Nov. 5, 1968 PRESS FOR MAKING BLOCKS FROM LOOSE FIBER MATERIAL Filed Sept. 26, 1966 3 Sheets-Sheet 5 Mm W N w Hm E m w BUS/(HORN, BLORE, KLAROU/ST 8 SPAR/(MAN ATTORNEYS 3,408,927 PRESS FOR MAKING BLOCKS FROM LOOSE FIBER MATERIAL Charles B. Willock, Milwaukie, Oreg., assignor to Portco Corporation, Portland, Oreg., a corporation of Oregon Filed Sept. 26, 1966, Ser. No. 581,790 8 Claims. (Cl. 100-215) ABSTRACT OF THE DISCLOSURE Loose asbestos is inserted into a charging chamber through a charging opening, and a platen is driven downwardly, rapidly at first, by arcuate links and arms forming toggle joint linkages and then slowly and with great force. Then a ram compacts horizontally to form a block.

This invention relates to a press for making blocks from loose fiber material, and more particularly to a press for compressing asbestos fiber material into coherent blocks.

An object of the invention is to provide a new and improved press for making blocks from loose fiber material.

Another object of the invention is to provide a press for compressing asbestos fiber material into coherent blocks.

A further object of the invention is to provide a press having a quick opening side of a compression chamber for quickly charging the compressing chamber.

Another object of the invention is to provide a heavy duty press having a side of a compression chamber for a ram together with means for quickly opening and closing the side and for locking the side against very high pressures.

The invention provides a press having a compression chamber formed by fixed side and bottom walls, a ram forming one end wall, a gate forming the other end wall and a platen forming the top wall and movable between an open, charging position and a closed, chamber-forming position. Preferably the platen is a pistonlike member movable along a tubular charging cylinder extending upwardly from the compression chamber and adapted to direct into the compression chamber a measured quantity of fiber material to be compressed. A

press forming one specific embodiment of the invention includes a quick-opening and quick-closing drive for the platen which includes a toggle joint linkage serving to lock the platen in its closed position.

A complete understanding of the invention may be obtained from the following detailed description of a press for forming blocks of asbestos fiber forming one embodiment thereof when read in conjunction with the appended drawings, in which:

FIG. 1 is a front elevation view of a press forming one embodiment of the invention;

FIG. 2 is a side elevation view of the press of FIG. 1;

FIG. 3 is an enlarged, fragmentary, rear elevation view of the press of FIG. 1;

FIG. 4 is an enlarged, fragmentary, side elevation view of the press of FIG.1;

FIG. 5 is an enlarged vertical sectional view taken substantially along line 5-5 of FIG. 1; and

FIG. 6 is an enlarged vertical sectional view taken substantially along line 6-6 of FIG. 2.

Referring now in detail to the drawings, there is shown therein a press 10 for forming a block 12 (FIG. 6) of asbestos fibers from loose asbestor fibers 14. Each block 12 is formed by first discharging the loose asbestos fibers through a vertical charging cylinder or hopper 17, then 3,408,927 Patented Nov. 5, 1968 moving a platen or piston 18 downwardly in the cylinder 17 from a raised, open position into an opening 20 in the top wall 22 of a horizontal, rectangular cylinder or conduit 24 until a lower face 26 of the platen 18 is flush with inside face 30 of the top wall 22 and fits closely within the cylinder 24, a horizontal piston or ram 34 and a gate 36. After the compression chamber is charged, the platen 18 is locked in its lower, closed position with a large force and the ram 34 is moved to the right, as viewed in FIG. 6, with a large force of at least 1000 pounds per square inch to compress the fibers horizontally into the fully compressed, self-sustaining block 12, the thickness of the block 12 being about one-half of the length of the compression chamber. The ram 34 then is backed oif slightly, the gate 36 is moved downwardly to move an opening 38 therein into alignment with the ram 34, the ram is again moved toward the block to push the block out of the compression chamber into a decompression tube 40, and the ram is then retracted to its starting position. The platen 18 then is raised to its uppermost, retracted position, and a measured weight of the asbestos fibers 14 is dropped through a charging chute 42 having a discharge opening 44 in the upper portion of a sidewall 46 of the cylinder 17. Another block 12 then is formed.

The press 10 (FIGS. 1 to 4) includes a base 60 having legs 62, longitudinal beams 64 and cross beams 66. Bolster plates 68 and 70 are tied together by tie rods 72 and spacers 74. The ram 34 is driven by a driving cylinder 76 carried by the bolster plate 68 and cross members 78, a flanged end 80 of the cylinder 76 being bolted to the bolster plate 68 which is rigidly fixed to one of the cross beams 66. The horizontal cylinder 24 (FIGS. 5 and 6) comprises the top wall 22, side walls 82 and a bottom wall 84, all being formed of thick, very strong plates welded together. The walls 22 and 84 are welded to a heavy end plate 86 (FIG. 1) held against spacers 88 by the tie bolster plate 70 and the plate 86, a vertical guideway for the gate 36. The gate 36 is movable vertically by a cylinder device 90 (FIG. 2) mounted on cross member 92 supported by uprights 94 carried rigidly on the plates 70 and 86.

A loading conveyor (FIG. 2) feeds the loose asbestos fiber material 14 to a belt conveyor 102 having adjacent its discharge end a driven compacting roller 104, which compacts the material. The conveyor 102 drops the material onto a vibrating feeder 106, which feeds the material into the top of a scale hopper 108 onto a butterfly valve 110 projecting through a slot 111 and mounted on a shaft 113 carried by bearings 115 on the scale hopper. When a predetermined weight of the material 14 has accumulated in the scale hopper 108, a known scale device (not shown) of the hopper 108 stops the feeder 106 and actuates a cylinder device 112 to swing an arm 114 connected to the butterfly valve 110 to swing the valve, from a blocking position, downwardly to a discharge position. The material then is discharged through a flexible coupling conduit 116 into and through the charging chute 42 into the charging hopper to form the column 16 (FIGS. 5 and 6). After all the material in the weighed batch thereof has been discharged from the scale hopper 108, a known control (not shown) is actuated automatically to actuate the cylinder device 112 to reclose the valve 110 and also restart the drive of the feeder 106, the material 14 from the conveyor 102 having been accumulated and held on the feeder while the scale hopper was discharged.

The platen 18 must withstand very high pressures when the block 12 is being formed, and includes a thick, rectangular plate or piston member (FIGS. 3 to 6) fitting closely and slidably in the charging hopper 17. Vertical end plates 132 are welded to the top of the plate 130 and to longitudinal plates 134 and an upper plate 136. The plates 132 and 136 are welded to an I-bearn 138 which is welded to the plate 130. Clevises 140 on the tops of end portions of the plate 136 are secured pivotally to parallel toggle links 142 by pins 144. Parallel vertical channels 146 welded to the end portions of the plate 136 have Y-shaped plates 148 secured to the Webs thereof. Edges 150 of the flanges of the channels 146 lie in the same parallel vertical planes as end faces 152 of the plate 130 and, in effect, form vertical extensions or piston skirts of the faces 152 and act as guides in the charging hopper to prevent cocking of the plate 130. Rollers 154 mounted on pins 156 carried by the upper ends of the Y-shaped plates 148 roll along vertical guideways 158 formed by vertical flanges of angle irons 160. The angle irons 160 are rigidly mounted on a flanged base ring 162 (FIG. 4) bolted to a flanged upper end 164 of the charging hopper 17. The rollers 154 act to prevent cocking of the plate 130 in a direction transverse to the action of the edges 150 of the channels. Flanged lower end 166 of the charging hopper is bolted to overhanging or flange portion 168 of a lower section 169, which is secured to the top wall 22.

Side frame members 170 (FIGS. 3 and 4) and a cross member 172 are secured rigidly to the angle irons 160, and the members 170 support bearings 174 journaling a shaft 176 to which pairs of crank arms 178 and a pair of actuating arms 180 are welded. A top, U-shaped frame 182 of angle irons is secured to the tops of the angle irons 160. The crank arms 178 are rotatably connected to the upper ends of the toggle links 142.

A cylinder 184 (FIG. 4) pivotally mounted at its bottom end to a bracket 186 welded to a sidewall of the hopper 17 serves to receive fluid under pressure to move a piston member 188 up or down. The upper end of the piston member 188 is pivotally connected by a pin 190 to the outer ends of the actuating arms 180. When the piston member 188 is in its uppermost position the actuating arms 180 are somewhat off vertical. When the piston member 188 is in its lowermost position the arms 180 engage stops 189 and extend primarily downward and somewhat to the left, as viewed in FIG. 4, and the arms 178 and links 142 are slightly overcenter to lock the platen 18 against further movement upwardly from forces on the plate 130. The arms 178 and the links 142 form a strong toggle joint linkage capable of withstanding the very high forces occurring during the formation of each block 12. However, at this time the piston member 188 and the actuating arms 180, which lag slightly behind the crank arms 178, have not reached their centered or aligned positions so that, upon reversal of fluid under pressure to the cylinder 184, the actuating arms, the cylinder and piston member 188 easily break the overcenter condition of the toggle joint linkage and raise the platen 18. The cylinder 184, the piston 188 and the toggle joint linkage connected to the platen 18 rapidly move the platen 18 between its open and closed positions, and the toggle joint linkage strongly holds the platen in its closed positions. As best shown in FIG. 4, the links 142 are roughly arcuate so as to clear upper end 199 of the sidewall 46 of the hopper 17 A hydraulic unit 200 (FIG. 1) includes a pump 202 and motor drive unit 204 mounted on a base 206. A reservoir 208 is mounted on the bolster plate 68 and spacers 74. The pump 202 supplies and exhausts hydraulic liquid to the several hydraulic cylinders of the press in timed sequence under the control of a suitable control system 210.

The press compresses the asbestos fibers 14 very greatly to form the self-sustaining blocks 12, and forms the blocks 12 very rapidly. The press has high speed and is very strong and rugged so as to withstand the high forces required to compress the asbestos fibers sufliciently to make the blocks self-sustaining.

It is to be understood that the above-described arrangements are simply illustrative of the application of the principles of the invention. Numerous other arrangements may be readily devised by those skilled in the art which will embody the principles of the invention and fall within the spirit and scope thereof.

What is claimed is:

1. In a press for making self-sustaining blocks from asbestos fibers:

a horizontal compression cylinder having a top wall having a top opening therein,

a vertical charging cylinder sealed to the top wall and extending upwardly from the top opening and aligned with the top opening,

charging means for introducing a column of unpacked material through the charging cylinder into the compression cylinder to charge the compression cylinder,

vertical guideways extending upwardly from the top of the charging cylinder,

a platen movable downwardly along the charging cylinder from a retracted position above said column to a closed position in which the lower end of the charging piston forms a continuation of the top wall of the compression cylinder,

trailing guide means secured to and extending upwardly from the platen and engaging the vertical guideways for preventing cocking of the platen,

a horizontal shaft positioned above and extending across and over the center of the charging cylinder,

a pair of parallel toggle joint linkages having parallel arms keyed to the shaft and links coupled to the arms and to the platen,

crank means for turning the shaft,

and ram means movable along the compression cylinder in a horizontal compression step after the vertical compression.

2. The press of claim 1 wherein the links are arcuate so as to travel freely into and out of the charging cylinder.

3. The press of claim 1 wherein the guide means includes a pair of forked members adapted to bracket the shaft and provide clearance for the shaft.

4. The press of claim 1 wherein the charging means is positioned at one side of the charging cylinder and including hydraulic cylinder means at the other side of the charging cylinder for driving the crank means.

5. In a press for making self-sustaining blocks from asbestos fibers:

a compression cylinder,

a vertical charging chamber extending above the cylinder,

frame means positioned above the charging chamber,

a shaft,

bearing means on the frame means journaling the shaft in a position above and extending across the central portion of the chamber,

a platen movable from the upper portion of the chamto the lower portion thereof,

a crank arm keyed to the shaft,

drive cylinder means coupled to the crank arm for turning the shaft,

arm means keyed to the shaft and movable over the chamber between an upwardly inclined position and a second position extending directly downward and over the central portion of the chamber,

and generally arcuate link means connected pivotally to the central portion of the platen and to the outer end of the arm means and forming a toggle joint linkage with the arm means.

6. The press of claim 5 wherein the frame means includes an open guideway means extending upwardly from the chamber;

and guide means secured to the platen and movable along the guideway means as the platen is moved in the chamber.

7. The press of claim 6 wherein the guideway means extends above the shaft and the guide means has an upwardly facing clearance opening to permit the upper portions of the guide means to move above the shaft.

8. The press of claim 7 wherein the guide means comprises a pair of yokes and guide rollers on the upper ends of the yokes.

References Cited 6 2/1957 Wall 100-53 XR 5/1961 Roberts et a1. 100-232 XR 5/ 1961 Hillstrorn' 100-232 XR 5/1963 Stangl 100-232 232 XR 12/ 1964 Stromberg 100-99 XR 8/1966 Thomas et al. 100-232. XR 6/ 1967 Lebovitz 100-272 XR FOREIGN PATENTS 10/1962 Canada.

9/1964 Great Britain.

BILLY I. WILHITE, Primary Examiner.

IIIIhIII VII-VI- UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE CERTIFICATE OF CORRECTION Patent No. 3,408,927 November 5 1968 Charles B. Willock It is certified that error appears in the above identified patent and that said Letters Patent are hereby corrected as Show below:

Column 2, line 6, after "withinthe" insert opening 20 and defines a horizontal compressionchmnberfwith the Signed and sealed this 3rd day of March 1970.

(SEAL) Attest:

Edward M. Fletcher, Jr. WILLIAM E. SCHUYLER, IR.

A" nan- 

